


Of Dreams of Memories (Of Memories of Dreams)

by Ryukin



Category: Final Fantasy VIII, Kingdom Hearts
Genre: M/M, Past Relationship(s), Recovered Memories, Time Shenanigans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-04
Updated: 2019-03-21
Packaged: 2019-10-22 02:07:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17653988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ryukin/pseuds/Ryukin
Summary: Seifer is haunted by memories he shouldn't have, the presence of a life he hadn't lived. He needs answers before his mind rips itself apart.





	1. Chapter 1

“Leaving so soon, lamer?”

Sora stopped abruptly, his hand grasping air as if preparing to pluck something out of it. He turned to face Seifer, watching him warily from the top of the courtyard stairs with arms crossed. 

“Oh, y-yeah, just stopped in for lunch!” Sora stumbled. “This bistro is the best in all the worlds!” The overgrown duck at his side stomped his foot and he corrected, “World!”

Seifer continued to glare as he hopped down the stairs. Sora didn't budge, even when Seifer tried to use his slight height advantage for intimidation. “You know,” he said quietly, “Every time you show up, something bad happens.”

Sora half smiled and threw a hand behind his head. “You ever think I show up to solve the bad things?”

“No.” Sora's face fell and he left his arms dangling at his sides. Seifer continued, “Last time I saw you here, me and the Disciplinary Committee were clearing out monsters for weeks.”

“Monsters! I thought I …”

Seifer smiled, sideways and cold. “What, that you saved us? Rescued the whole town? Way I saw it, loser, is you came in and stirred trouble up just enough before you dashed away!” He moved as if to push Sora with his shoulder. Sora dodged and held his ground. “What I wanna know is … where do you go?”

“What?” Sora blinked. 

“You're not from Twilight Town.”

The duck grumbled something and adjusted his hat. Sora started to answer but the duck elbowed him. Or - winged him. Seifer chuckled. 

“I - look, I can't -”

“You're from another world,” Seifer said simply. Sora stared at him slack jawed and Seifer fought to keep a straight face. “I know you travel between worlds, how you do it. Take me with you.”

“What?! ” Sora asked, echoed by the motley crew flanking him. 

Seifer grinned and took a single step back. He was still in Sora's bubble and he watched as the gears turned behind his eyes. He looked cautious as he asked, “Why?”

Seifer shrugged, putting his hands in his coat pockets. “I'm looking for something.”

The wariness fell from Sora's face as it filled with burning curiosity. It was the same look the lamers Hayner, Pence and Olette all wore when they got their panties in a twist about some ‘mysteries.’ Seifer knew he had won. 

“What are you looking for?”

** “I will! I promise!” his voice hoarse from shouting, arm out in a last desperate grab for a hand disappearing in swirling darkness. **

** The smell of gunpowder and steel in the heat of battle. **

** Standing apart from a faceless group, never a part. **

** Sweat and lightning stinging his tongue as lips hit his. **

The dreams of memories and memories of dreams of a life unfamiliar but undeniably his. 

“None-a your beeswax, half pint,” he answered with a sneer. “I'll stay outta your way, just take me with you. I can't -”

“Can't what?”

Seifer signed. “I can't leave here in my own. It's like - something stops me.”

Sora shuffled his feet. “What about your friends?”

“Rai and Fuu? Told ‘em already.”

“That's presumptive,” the duck behind Sora squawked. 

“No, I mean, are they -”

“No,” Seifer shook his head. “This is something I have to do on my own.”

Sora signed and turned back to the bistro tables, throwing himself down in a chair. His companions started to argue with him. Well, the duck argued, the dog looked resigned in his position as mediator. Sora waved them off and kicked the chair opposite him out. Seifer sat down. 

As he watched, Sora pulled a bulky cell phone from his pocket and looked at it crazy. He struggled to turn it on and it was killing Seifer to wait for whatever he was doing. It was like watching an old man versus technology fight. 

“Gimme that,” he motioned. Sora smiled and handed it over. Seifer took a moment to turn it over in his own hands, unfamiliar with the model. “What is this?”

“It's, uh, new.”

“Uh huh.” Seifer figured out the interface pretty quickly and asked what Sora needed. 

“I need to call Chip and Dale.”

Seifer nodded and placed the call. He was a little surprised when it immediately made a video call, a lot surprised when it was answered. 

“Hiya, Sora! … You're not Sora.”

“Uh.” Seifer was struck dumb faced with the talking rodent. Sora leaned over the table, head bumping Seifer's. 

“Hey, Dale! Hey, I have a favor to ask.”

The animal on screen wiggled his big red nose in irritation. “Sora, what are you -”

“The order!” the duck drowned the conversation out, right in Seifer's ear. He shoved him back, gently, still wary of the talking animals Sora seemed to collect. 

“Yeah, soooo,” Sora cut back in. “About that favor. I need another seat in the Gummi Ship. And I bought a dog!”

“Another - and a dog! What is a dog going to do in a Gummi Ship? Chip! Hey, Chipper!” the animal squeaked off screen. 

Seifer looked up at Sora. “Of course you'd call a squirrel.”

“Not a squirrel. They're chipmunks!” He beamed. Seifer's stomach flopped and he sank back into his chair. Sora stayed leaning over the table and grinning and Seifer was hit with a wave of nostalgia and yearning so hard he almost got up and left. 

“Yeah, whatever,” he grumbled instead. He glared at Sora. He was a dorky kid with talking animal friends, a menace to Twilight Town, and, admittedly, an alright fighter - barely an acquaintance, but something in his smile was so familiar. Like the half remembered dreams that had haunted Seifer for years. 

Whoever Sora was, he wasn't the one Seifer was dreaming about. There was just something similar. 

Seifer sat back, arms crossed, and realized the time in his head had made him lose track of the conversation. 

“Meet us in the clearing by the old mansion, Sora,” the chipmunk was saying. 

“I hope you know what you're doing,” another voice cut in. Seifer glanced at the phone and saw another chipmunk wearing coveralls, little arms crossed. He glanced over at Seifer through the screen and Seifer glared back. 

“Okay guys, thanks!” Sora hung up the phone and slid it back in his pocket. 

“Gee, Sora, I sure hope you know what you're doing,” the dog in a funny hat repeated. His tone was joking but Seifer knew he was serious. The duck just stood with wings crossed, clearly angry. 

“Yeah, me too,” Sora signed. He got up and offered Seifer his hand. “Well, let's get going!” His cheer sounded forced. 

Seifer ignored his hand. “The mansion, huh? Let's go.” He stalked off, hearing the commotion of the trio behind him scurrying to catch up. 

“Do you need to get anything before we go?” Sora asked. 

“No. Let's just - let's go now.” Seifer felt electrified, tangled nerves and energy and excitement. He walked through town quickly, nodding at people saying hello and brushing them off quickly. One of the best perks of being the biggest badass in town was people were just used to him and all his attitude. 

Sora was just a step behind. He was arguing with the duck, who clearly thought taking Seifer along was a terrible idea. He could hardly understand him but he was quickly irritated and threw his arm out in a block as they entered the tunnel to Sector 2. The three ran into each other as they piled against his arm. 

“Listen here, duck.”

“Donald Duck!” he squealed. 

Seifer blinked. Sora stepped between them as the duck, Donald Duck, puffed up into Seifer's face. He put a firm hand on Seifer's chest and pushed him back. “Hey! Donald, stop! Seifer isn't hurting anyone, let's just help out for a while!”

Seifer couldn't understand the duck's rebuttal but he figured it wasn't flattering. He couldn't lose his chance, so he grimaced and sucked up his pride. “I don't belong here,” he said quietly. 

Sora's head snapped up. “No, Seifer, it's okay, I'm just -”

“Shut up.” The boy looked stricken by the words so Seifer softened his voice. “You come from another world. I think - I think I do too. I don't belong here, in Twilight Town.” Sora stopped pushing them apart but left his hand pressed to Seifer's chest. Seifer brushed it off. “It's just a feeling. Dreams. But not dreams, almost like … memories.”

Sora looked contemplative. He nodded. “I understand. Do you know anything else?”

“No,” Seifer growled, frustrated at his show of weakness, however small. He swiped under his nose and looked away. 

“It's okay,” Sora said, putting his hand on Seifer's shoulder. “We'll figure it out.”

“Whatever. Let's just go.” He stormed away, kicking a can from the alleyway corner. He kept his head down and almost missed the moment the monsters showed up. 

“Seifer! Get back!” Sora said, leaping in front of him. The air around his extended hand shone and a large key settled into existence with a thunk. Sora held it defensively in front of them as he looked over the encroaching group of monsters. 

“Screw that!” Seifer exclaimed as he watched the boy swirl around and hit a small black monster in blue armor. The dog raised a shield, the duck summoned a little lightning, and Seifer turned his attention to the pile of trash and crates next to him. He kicked a crate hard, shattering it, and picked up a splintered bit of wood. He leapt into the fray. 

“Wait! Seifer no! That won't do any good against the heartless!” Sora waved him back as he pummeled a small monster, a heartless, into a wisp of oily black smoke. Seifer thought he saw a small beating heart float out over the disintegrating figure but he blinked and it was gone. 

A small cloud of flat bats with feral eyes swarmed them and Seifer leapt into action. “Come get it!” he yelled as he slashed the board through their group. The bats scattered and Seifer squatted to get some power before he leapt toward the ceiling. He sliced through the air and a flying nightmare creature as he continued, “Isn't this romantic?! A little tussle in a dark alley, oh yeah!” One more hit and the bat was toast. 

He grinned and turned to Sora, watching him in awe. Seifer winked and turned back to the fight, board raised in front of him, ready to wallop heartless enemies. Sora took point at his back and with his small menagerie, the two boys took out the hoard. 

Sora laughed as he decimated the last beast. Seifer watched him, breathless, grinning in the face of adversary. Seifer licked his lips and for a brief moment, wanted to lick into Sora's mouth. 

He continued down the halls hearing Sora slide around behind him. They took out a few more rounds of heartless before they made it to the old mansion. 

They stood in the empty courtyard, dog and duck milling around looking for “a great place to find ingredients,” and Seifer rested his back on the remains of an old pillar. 

Sora, key still at his side, pulled out his phone to call the chipmunks. He didn't see the small shadow pool at his feet, didn't see it rise behind him with searching antennae and slashing claws. 

Seifer did. 

He dropped the bit of board he had been using and grabbed for Sora's key. The boy made a noise of protest but Seifer was strong and wrest the weapon free, weighing the balance in his own hand as he twirled around. The momentum helped the key slide right through the shadow in a split second, but it was still slow enough to see the blade in his hand.

Wide and thick where it had been thin and whippy in Sora's hand. The pommel changed under his fingers, forming a more natural pistol grip. His finger hit a trigger and pulled it as the blade cleaved the heartless, shooting it as he sliced, and Seifer dropped the blade. It fell into the ground, stuck on its own imposing weight before taking on the magical shine it had in Sora's hand and disappearing. 

He and Sora looked into the thin air where it had disappeared before looking up at each other.

“What was that?!” Seifer yelled. 

“How did you do that?” Sora asked at the same time. 

“What do you mean, I just took it from you, but how did it -”

“You shouldn't be able to do that.”

Seifer felt himself start to panic. The blade had felt so real, so natural in his hand. Like he had wielded it before. “But what was that!”

Sora shrugged. He looked distracted. “I think - I think I know who to ask,” he said quietly. 

Seifer shivered, suddenly ice and fire down to his very bones. Sora called his blade to his hand - it was the same one he had been fighting with before. It flashed through a series of other ostentatious blades, but nothing like what Seifer had held. 

“Sora,” Donald whined.

“It's okay. I'm sure it's okay.” He looked almost as shaken as Seifer. “Anyway, our ride's here, guys.”

As he said it, a small red aircraft materialized over them. Sora focused a moment and zipped up to the cockpit as if by magic. The animals clambered up after and Seifer, with less grace than he had hoped to have, was left to climb the crumbling remains of a pillar and heft himself onto the wing and into the ship. 

There was a seat up front where Sora buckled himself at the helm, two flanking him slightly behind where the dog and duck were settling in, and a smaller jump seat behind Sora's with a small brown puppy curled up on it. He was trying to figure out how to wake the dog up but Sora beat him to it. 

“Hey wait, where's -” He stood on the seat and looked over the back. “Puppy!” The dog woke up and leapt over to Sora. Seifer, glad the puppy didn't talk, took the remaining seat and looked around. Nothing on the ship looked familiar. A sense of apprehension settled deep in his bones. 

“Sora, I don't think you can steer the ship so well with a puppy on your lap,” the dog in green said. 

“Well, he's not here to pilot, he’s here for ship morale!” Sora said as the puppy matched his enthusiasm, standing on hind legs to lick his face happily. Sora cooed and scratched him all over. 

“If we hit an asteroid because of the puppy, Sora -” Donald threatened. 

“Asteroid?” Seifer asked, suddenly nervous. “You don't travel through space, do you?” The idea of space travel was another half remembered dream - vast and freezing and so very alone. Something he had never experienced, but a visceral memory that lived in his very bones. It was that nagging feeling of wrongness, of more, that had compelled him to ask the three nincompoops for help. 

Donald turned around and yelled at him. “I thought you said you knew how Sora traveled!”

“Yeah!” Sora chimed in, ire muffled from where he had his face buried in the puppy's fur. 

Seifer shrugged. “I made a stab in the dark. It's not my fault you're gullible.”

“Well, what're we gonna do now, Sora?” the dog asked. 

Sora put the puppy down and let it sniff around the cockpit. Seifer pet its head when no one was looking. “Seifer held my keyblade. He took down a heartless with it.” The duo of weirdos got all blustery and he continued. “It was weird, it - changed - in his hands. It looked just like ...” He shook his head and turned back to the helm, starting up the ship. 

Seifer could feel the engine's rumble in his bones and he grabbed the sides of his seat. The puppy put his feet up on Seifer's shin and looked at him with a cocked head. Seifer shooed him off and he leapt back onto Sora's lap. 

Sora brought up the ship's navigation system on screen and set course. Thankfully he was better at first than with his phone.

“We're going to see Leon,” he announced, pushing a lever forward. 

And they were off.


	2. Chapter 2

“If you barrel roll this Hyne damned thing one more time, I will not feel bad hurling in your hair.” Seifer was positively green. 

 

Sora took that as a dare and wrapped his arm around the puppy (asuradely a  _ definite _ hindrance to maneuvering the ship) and rolled the vessel around some space debris. 

 

Seifer lost his breakfast. He did not feel bad as Sora unwillingly found it. 

 

The ship ground to a halt as Sora and Donald cast a frantic flurry of Waterga and Aero to clean the mess. Seifer chuckled bitterly and wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. 

 

“Aww, Seifer, why?!” Sora whined like the drowned rat he looked like as he cast gallons of water magic on himself. 

 

“In Seifer's defense,” the overgrown armored dog said from his seat, “H-yuk, he did warn ya.” He was way too cheerful for the situation. 

 

Seifer sat back, letting the empty pit of his stomach settle. It was much better without Sora's over confident piloting. 

 

The dog turned to him. “Are ya alright? Feel better?” 

 

Blinking slow and long, Seifer found he did. He nodded.

 

“That's good.” He held out a gloved hand. “Name’s Goofy. Welcome aboard the Highwood, Seifer.”

 

Seifer looked at the offered hand and the smiling face behind it. He rolled his eyes and shook with a sigh. 

 

“Great!” Goofy laughed. “Now we can officially be friends.”

 

“Right.” He tried to keep the sarcasm from his voice. Goofy didn't take offense when it bled through. “Are you almost done overreacting?” he turned to Sora. 

 

“Overreacting! I'm _ perfectly _ reacting!” Sora shook off the last of the Aero. The ends of his hair were wilted and puffy. He brushed his bangs out of his face. “Aww, man!”

 

He tried to respike his hair and Seifer snickered. “Nothin's gonna fix that. Except a razor.”

 

“What? No.” Sora kept trying in vain. 

 

As the ship sat, Seifer became more impatient. “Can you hurry up?”

 

“Got somewhere to be?” Sora pouted.

 

“Anywhere but here -”

 

An incessant ringing erupted from Sora's pocket, pulling him from his grooming. He hit the answer button and his face lit up. “Riku!”

 

“Hey Sora - what's wrong?” the voice from the phone interrupted itself. 

 

“Ooooh, nothing!” Sora put a hand behind his head and Seifer rolled his eyes at the pathetic attempt to play cool. “Just a tiny mishap on the Gummi Ship, nothing, really, it's fine.”

 

“Sora,” the phone signed. “Where are you? I'll come help.”

 

Sora glanced up at Seifer quickly. “No! Everything's okay.” Donald squawked indignantly and Sora talked over him. “We're coming by Radiant Garden! Are you and the king there still?”

 

“Oh. Actually, I was just calling to tell you we're heading out. It should be quick, but. You never know. Why are you coming to Garden?”

 

Garden. There was something nagging the back of Seifer's mind about the word. He hoped the kid was on to something. 

 

“I had a question for Leon.”

 

“I'm just down the road from Merlin's, I can go back and you can ask him over the phone?”

 

Sora shook his head. “No. No, it's more -”

 

Seifer couldn't listen to him stammer on anymore and quietly stood. Goofy waved him down but Seifer ignored him and leaned against Sora's seat back. The puppy licked his elbow as Seifer looked over Sora's shoulder. 

 

The boy on the phone turned to him immediately, electric teal eyes sharp with distrust. “Who are you?”

 

Seifer smirked. “I'm the question.”

 

“Sora,” the boy, Riku, groaned, head falling into his hand. He dragged his bangs from his face, elbow high over his head. Seifer snorted, annoyed at the two’s matching mannerisms and married couple bickering. “Sora, what in the name of darkness and light are you doing?”

 

“Uhh …”

 

“Did you even think about the balance of the worlds?”

 

The duck squawked in agreeance, right in Seifer's ear. 

 

“I  _ thought _ about it,” Sora pouted.

 

The boy on the screen started to say something but a high voice yelled for him off camera. “Riku! C'mon, everything's ready!”

 

“You're leaving  _ now _ ?” Sora failed at not whining. 

 

“Yeah. Hey, Sora -” Riku glanced back at Seifer, pretending to ignore the whole ship as he cleaned dirt from under his fingernails with his teeth. “Never mind. Just be careful, okay?” 

 

Sora finally smiled. “Aww, what fun would that be?” Riku rolled his eyes, a soft grin crossing his face before Sora's phone went blank. 

 

“Your boyfriend always see right through you?” Seifer teased. 

 

“What?  No, he's not - and I'm - go sit down. We'll be there soon.” Sora's face burned red as he revved the accelerator and Seifer went back to his seat. “Don't throw up on me this time.”

 

“Don't drive like an asshole.”

  
  


***

  
  


Leon didn't know the boy walking aside Sora but there was  _ something  _ about him. In the solid boots hitting the ground, the sour face and clenched fist at his side. He was looking around as they walked down the cobbled street, ignoring Sora as he pointed and chatted. 

 

Their eyes met as the boy looked away from the moogle's shop. Leon saw his own sense of déjà vu reflected back in them. The boy slowed and looked Leon slowly up and down. 

 

Sora continued down with a wave and a smile. Leon nodded in greeting but didn't take his eyes from the newcomer. 

 

The boy's face reflected Leon's own scar. They would be an exact pair, if the kid were a couple inches taller. 

 

“Who are you?” Leon asked, voice rough. 

 

In lieu of answering, the boy grabbed the hem of Leon's short jacket. His squinted glare was the last thing Leon saw before he was pulled down into a desperate kiss.


End file.
